I was at a hamfest today, and I saw a nice compact RM Italy BLA 350 Amplifier for sale, brand new from a vendor in Lebanon, PA who made the trip to Pittsburgh for this small hamfest......When I asked the price, the dude told me $675.00.....Bearing in mind that this amp has only a 300w power output, my jaw dropped to the floor.....Can someone please tell me what the going price is for an amp that maxes out in the midpower ranges???.....I am finding it hard to believe that something with that low a power output could be so expensive......someone please verify.....Thanks....

$675.00 is an excellent price for this amp. It sells for $800.00 on Amazon. It is a QRP amp that requires 1 to 14 watts input for full power out, and covers 160 thru 10 meters with automatic band switching and VSWR protection. It has a built in power supply for 110/220/240 volts. How good is it I do not know. I have hear horror stories and good stories. I think one of the problems if I remember is it is not FCC type accepted.

Yeah I saw the $800 price tag on-line.....then I put my eyeballs back in their sockets.....I am sorry, but for an amp that only puts out 300 watts max, those prices seem excessive.....perhaps I am naieve about this because I never owned an amp of any kind, but this is JMO, and I am sticking to it....

Going solid state and high power is outrageous. Even the Ameritron line of mobile amps is pretty high. RM Italy doesn't have a good track record for clean amps anyway.as seen on another thread.....This offering from TenTec, who I would trust a lot more than RM Italy

Unfortunately, what you are starting to see in the effect of government policies. Inflation is really kicking in now and the value of the dollar is falling all over the world. This translates to higher prices for everything. Be prepared it is only going to get worse. For the general populus, the spending that is going on in Washington DC is pretty transparent. They do a good job of cloaking it as helping out the regular Joe and punishing those evil rich people. But the reality is that it is hurting everyone and is going to get a lot worse. Be prepared to pay higher prices for everything in the comming year. And I am talking about significantly higher. The way we are headed, the good ole U.S.A. is going to be just another "also ran" nation. It is said that the voting public is so ignorant they don't understand this.

Unfortunately, what you are starting to see in the effect of government policies. Inflation is really kicking in now and the value of the dollar is falling all over the world. This translates to higher prices for everything. Be prepared it is only going to get worse. For the general populus, the spending that is going on in Washington DC is pretty transparent. They do a good job of cloaking it as helping out the regular Joe and punishing those evil rich people. But the reality is that it is hurting everyone and is going to get a lot worse. Be prepared to pay higher prices for everything in the comming year. And I am talking about significantly higher. The way we are headed, the good ole U.S.A. is going to be just another "also ran" nation. It is said that the voting public is so ignorant they don't understand this.

Unfortunately, what you are starting to see in the effect of government policies. Inflation is really kicking in now

Actually you are wrong. The inflation rate has been falling over the last year from 4% to under 2% for Feb 2013. Inflation is lower than it was ten years ago, and lower than average before the 2008 crash. You just don't know what you are talking about.

Quote

and the value of the dollar is falling all over the world.

The Dollar = 0.75 Euro, today. In 2009, it was THE SAME. So, again, you are wrong.

Go peddle your panics and gloom and doom elsewhere, please.

BTW, For what it is I think the price of the RM amplifier is reasonable. But is still an illegal CB amp.

Tying the American dollar to the Euro is not a sign of how well the dollar is doing. Both are being devalued as a function of their buying power and quantitative easing (printing money). The American dollar, in buying power has lost more than 33% in the last 4 years. We print money and borrow to meet our finical obligations. We are spending more than we receive. Wish I cold print money legally.

We are now paying more than in interest than what it takes to operate the federal budget. Taking all the money from the rich will only run the government for 15 days. As a result the government is going to increase your taxes. Remember when Obama said you taxes will not go up! He lied. Taxes applied to any segment of the population increases their overhead and the additional cost is passed on to the consumer. Wither you pay more for an item or what you have is devalued due to inflation, it is still the same as a tax. It is a reduction of your net worth.

This applies to all products including hamster amplifiers.

Are you surprised that a 300 watt amplifier cost $800? You have to pay a talented engineer the same as any aerospace company. RF Technicians are paid at least $60K a year. Local city and states tax your inventory. employee medical is also huge profit eater. Your profit margins are low because hams still think about amplifier pricing from 30 years ago. Liability is also an issue especially with lethal voltages.

The BLA amplifier has two 50 volt MOSFET’s, low pass filters, auto band switching, microprocessor control, 50 volt switch mode power supply and will accept 1-15 watts from a QRP radio to putout 300 watts liner AB operation. Just because the company makes CB amps does not make their whole product line the same. Chevrolet makes the Volt (loser) and the ZR-1 Corvette (winner). You cannot compare one with the other. I might add my 1965 Corvette cost me $4700 used in 1971. The ZR-1 is $112,700 and change. Unfortunately, hams are still applying SB-200 (1971) pricing in 2013.

The quickest way to make a small fortune in ham radio is to start with a large fortune. Most hams have never tried to produce a product that for the most part is being sold to a population that doesn't want to learn the technical part of the hobby. Look in E-Ham under amplifiers, 85% of the ham radio amplifier manufactures listed in are no longer in business.

We apply labels to products based on what we read in the pop culture. Take the time to look at the schematics and you will learn what is in the product.

Actually you are wrong. The inflation rate has been falling over the last year from 4% to under 2% for Feb 2013. Inflation is lower than it was ten years ago, and lower than average before the 2008 crash. You just don't know what you are talking about.

Copyright 2000-2018 eHam.net, LLC
eHam.net is a community web site for amateur (ham) radio operators around the world.
Contact the site with comments or questions.
WEBMASTER@EHAM.NETSite Privacy Statement